


Everything's Fine in the Beast Division

by Merrinpippy



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone's About the Same Age Now, Gen, M/M, Ministry of Magic, Parselmouth Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-24 03:29:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9697649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merrinpippy/pseuds/Merrinpippy
Summary: Harry's lifelong ambition is to become an auror, but as his knowledge of Dangerous Beasts is somewhat lacking, Newt Scamander agrees to take him on as an apprentice. Contrary to the Weasley twins' predictions that Harry would die of boredom, Harry finds his time at the Ministry veryinteresting, and befriending the very attractive Tom Riddle doesn't hurt at all- in fact, quite the opposite.





	1. Meet the Preps

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Clarisse (transnymphtaire)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/transnymphtaire/gifts).



> Written for the Tomarry Valentine Exchange. Chapters will be published throughout the three days, this of course being the first. Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you enjoy! :)

It was raining outside when Harry took the lift up to Level 4 of the Ministry of Magic, except it wasn’t  _ technically _ actually raining and ‘outside’ meant in the fake windows of each of the ministry’s department levels. 

The ministry employees in the lift with him were staring, but Harry was used to that after eighteen years of being publically known as the only person to ever have survived the killing curse as a child. He had already been sent multiple letters from the Department of Mysteries inquiring if he might allow them to run some invasive tests for an undetermined amount of time. Harry had ignored these letters, but the presence of the strange Unspeakables might be one of a few downsides predicted by the Weasley twins to his time here at the ministry. However, the strange fluttering in his chest wasn't nerves, but the snitch he made a habit of keeping on his person.

It had been (whether he knew it or not) an aspiration of his ever since he was young, to be an auror. The idea had been planted when he’d learned of his parents’ murders, and nothing had replaced it since. It was the only thing he could think of that offered meaning to his life as he’d never really felt a calling from anything other than Defence Against the Dark Arts, except perhaps Quidditch. But as well as he’d done in Concealment and Disguise, Stealth and Tracking, and Magical Jurisprudence, his knowledge of Dangerous Beasts had been mysteriously lacking (Harry loved Hagrid dearly but flobberworms were unlikely to come up in auror training). 

So Luna had spoken to a close friend of hers that happened to be the leading authority on magical creatures and now Harry was here, stepping out of the lift in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, on his way to begin an apprenticeship with Newt Scamander. 

Harry was the only one getting out of the lift on this floor, so he couldn’t ask any of them where the Beast Division was. The first thing he noticed as he looked around was a litter of kneazles being cooed at by what seemed like half of the department and certainly everyone in the room, on the couch in the corner of the room. 

The room itself looked quite like the auror office except much more relaxed and more spacious, a quality Harry much preferred. There were plaques on each of the doorways branching off, and Harry made it halfway to the one that read ‘Beast Division’ before anyone noticed him. 

Though quite a few members of the crowd seemed like they wanted to talk to him, a red-haired woman dressed in clothes that looked more muggle than magical thrust a kneazle into one of their arms and forbade them from following her. Harry watched on with some trepidation as she jogged over to him and shook his hand. 

“Mathilda Grimblehawk, investigator, good to meet you. Of course I know who you are, the famous Harry Potter in our department! If you’ll just follow me I can take you to Newt’s office straight away.” 

Bemused, Harry did follow Mathilda into the Beast Division, another large room with more branches off of it. This room was even more relaxed, with a multitude of couches, coffee tables, stacks of books and strange ornaments placed haphazardly around. If Harry’d had to guess what the place would look like, he wouldn’t have guessed this- he could barely reconcile this image with that of the dull, stern Ministry he knew. But, he supposed that if  _ Newt Scamander  _ worked here, he shouldn’t be too surprised...

“We do take our work seriously, I swear,” Mathilda was saying. “But when you bring in a particularly vicious kneazle who turns out to be a new mother of five, there’s no passing up the opportunity. Except for Newt and Mr Barebone, but they practically live inside that suitcase anyway- here we are!” 

The door that Mathilda knocked on read: ‘ _ Newton Scamander and Credence Barebone | Investigators and consultants in various sub-departments of the Beast Division _ ’. Harry didn’t think this really clarified what they did, but he supposed he’d find out soon enough.

When the door opened, it was decidedly not Newt that answered. A pale-skinned man with black hair and a shy demeanor opened the door- Credence, Harry assumed. 

“Hi, I’m Harry Potter-?” 

Credence nodded slightly. “Newt’s waiting for you,” he said quietly, and opened the door further to invite him in. 

“I’ll see you later Harry!” Mathilda said as the door closed, but Harry did not get a chance to answer her. 

The office was rather plain, the seat, desk, and few sets of drawers not doing much to fill the space. The only notable object was a suitcase on the floor which Harry immediately recognised in its infamy. Without preamble, Credence opened the suitcase and disappeared inside, however a second later he resurfaced and said, “There’s a ladder.” 

There was indeed. 

It was like Harry had apparated into a cottage somewhere far away- the space was massive, reminiscent of (but infinitely more impressive than) Mr Weasley’s tent that they’d stayed in at the Quidditch World Cup. 

Shelves were filled to the brim with tools and odd devices, items of clothing were scattered around, and plants made their homes in the most impulsive of places. There was a desk here too, covered in papers with scribbles and sketches. It gave the impression of being heavily lived in, and Harry could only describe it as cosy.

“It used to be more of a shed,” Newt said, bringing Harry’s attention to the kindly freckled wizard in one of three doorways. “But when Credence came to stay I thought I’d enlarge it a little. Though Credence has disappeared for the moment- he’s not particularly comfortable around strangers.” 

“It can’t help that his name has barely left the papers even after all this time,” Harry said, having seen many times the Prophet’s articles about the ‘extremely dangerous Obscurial let loose on Britain’. He could say from experience that it was not at all fun being pestered by the wizarding media, and he couldn’t imagine how bad Credence had it. 

Newt smiled, though, seemingly appreciating Harry’s sympathy. “Quite,” he replied, and stepped forward to shake Harry’s hand. “How about I show you to your room?”

“Room?” Harry said, confused. 

Newt only smiled again, a twinkle in his eye as he led Harry out of the room. Down a short hallway were doorways to four rooms. Newt turned to face Harry, tapping one of the doors with his wand and leaning against the doorway as it opened. 

“Credence and I sleep here more often than not, just for convenience. You can go home if you want of course, but you have a place here too for as long as you want to stay.”

Harry couldn’t bring his eyebrows down from the top of his forehead. “Wow, Mr Scamand-”

“Please, call me Newt.”

“Newt. This is very generous of you, thank you so much,” Harry said earnestly. 

“Oh, it’s nothing really. I’d like to show you around a bit if you’re amenable, so you can leave your rucksack in here for the time being.” 

Harry, who’d all but forgotten he was even carrying a rucksack at this point, did just that. 

“Are you a herbologist as well as a magizoologist?” Harry asked as they returned to the main room, eyeing the various species of plant hanging or lying around the place. 

“It’s just a hobby, really,” Newt dismissed. “Well, that and some of the plants made good feed. While we’re on the topic- how much  _ do  _ you know about beasts?”

Harry grimaced. “I’ve read the most recent edition of Fantastic Beasts, but other than that my knowledge is mostly limited to hippogriffs, flobberworms, and blast-ended screwts.”

“All fine creatures in their own way,” Newt said lightly. “How about I show you some of mine?” 

The outside of the cottage-area was even more magnificent than the inside. It was like they’d entered another dimension completely, so different was the change. He was sure that there wouldn’t even be enough space in an entire level of the ministry to hold the many vast habitats that Harry could see, from desert to rainforest to glade. 

“You’ll recognise these,” Newt commented, pointing to a couple of screwts. Harry wrinkled his nose. He could go the rest of his life never seeing one of them again and not lose any sleep over it, but he took care not to say this aloud. 

Newt took him for a tour around the habitats pointing out creatures, most of which Harry recognised in some way but some of which he did not. 

“Are those hives? Do you have magical bees?” Harry asked, intrigued at a pair of normal-seeming beehives but keeping his distance. 

“Oh no, these are just normal bees,” Newt assured, coming to stand next to Harry. “They’re endangered, don’t you know?”

Harry turned to grin at Newt only to catch sight of something dark in a secured area behind him. “That one I recognise too. Creepiest thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen dementors in person.” Harry pointed and Newt followed his line of sight. 

“Ah, the lethifold? Maybe I did make it seem a bit ominous. There’s no need to worry, though- it’s contained and even if it wasn’t it only attacks people when they’re asleep.” 

“In a really horrifying way.”

“Well, yes. But I imagine it would be very friendly if we got to know it better,” Newt said. Harry was quickly seeing the Hufflepuff in this man.

He decided to let it go.  

“You know, I actually remember reading about the dementors at Hogwarts in the Prophet,” Newt said as they moved on once again. “Weren’t they there for reasons involving you?” 

Harry grunted noncommittally, and he thought Newt would have left the subject alone if Credence hadn’t come out to meet them, having heard part of their conversation. 

“Dementors at a school for him?” Credence asked. “Why would you think that?” 

“Harry’s something of a celebrity,” Newt said, grinning good-naturedly at Harry. “He’s always in the Prophet for the most minor of reasons, which you’d know if you read it ever.” 

Credence frowned. “I don’t like the Prophet,” he replied, and Harry couldn’t have agreed more with Credence if he tried. 

“The Prophet’s been hassling me ever since I came to Hogwarts,” he said with a note of bitterness. “Doesn’t want to leave me alone because of a stupid scar on my head. Can't go one week without five reports on what I happened to have for lunch yesterday. Rita Skeeter especially.”

Credence was looking at Harry as if reevaluating him, while Newt wore an approving smile. Harry felt his face redden at his own outburst and he said no more.

What he didn't feel, however, was the snitch in his breast pocket. Frowning, he patted at it. The snitch was gone.

“Something wrong?” Credence asked.

“Something missing,” Harry replied, trying to remember if he’d left the snitch with his rucksack.

“Something shiny?” Newt asked, his eyes fixed on something by the cottage. 

Harry and Credence both followed his gaze to something small, dark and moving. Even from this distance, though, Harry could make out his snitch’s feeble attempts to escape the creature's grasp.

“Honestly, niffler,” Newt groaned. He jogged back towards the cottage, trailing Credence and Harry behind him. 

The niffler, likely having spotted them, disappeared inside the cottage. Newt didn’t miss a beat following him in and then locking the door behind them when Harry and Credence joined him. 

And then there was chaos. 

Harry didn’t know so many things could be uprooted by one spell, but Newt managed to both find and cast said spell in an attempt to catch the niffler. What resulted, however, was the contents of the living room minus the niffler being flung and suspended in the air. The firewood narrowly dodged Harry’s head and dashed the three of them in soot. 

“Why do you even own a snitch in the first place?” Credence asked offhandedly, as if this was an everyday occurrence. Maybe it was. 

“First snitch I ever caught in a game. Dumbledore gave it to me as a birthday present a few years back.” 

Newt had located the niffler. He dove left to cut it off while Credence dove right. Harry braced himself to catch the niffler if it slipped between the two. It did. Harry did not catch it. 

“Was that the one you caught in your mouth?” Newt asked, slightly out of breath.

“Don’t- don’t tell me you read that in the Prophet too!” Harry yelped as a flower pot previously suspended in midair fell. Harry caught it right before it hit the floor and set it down, while Newt and Credence were surrounding the bookcase the niffler was hiding in.

“No, this time Luna told me,” Newt answered over his shoulder.

Harry frowned, joining them and trying to figure out which cranny the niffler had stuffed itself in. “But she wasn’t even at the school when it happened, why would she know about that?” 

Newt paused and turned to look him in the eye. “Harry Potter plays his first ever game of Quidditch and catches the snitch in his mouth?! In Hogwarts, it would be stranger if she  _ didn’t _ know.” 

Of course, the niffler chose that moment to make a mad dash for freedom, slipping between them once again and scurrying underneath the table. Other objects were falling now too; Harry juggled what he could catch in his hands, tossing them haphazardly onto the table that Newt and Credence were attempting to cover. An unfortunate few of them were potions, hopefully harmless, which sprayed them in strange colours as they smashed. 

“Accio niffler,” Harry tried, and then “Accio snitch,” but neither actually worked. He almost suggested that they leave the niffler alone (at least for now) but felt that it would be somewhat rude. 

“Watch the ladder!” Newt yelled- the niffler was climbing it to escape to the room above, and for once Harry was faster, climbing after it and leaping to block the door. 

This room, being smaller and far less cluttered, was not the escape the niffler was hoping for. Newt and Credence, having climbed out of the suitcase after Harry, lunged at the niffler at the same time as Harry did, the result being the three of them lying in a heap, the niffler somewhere between them. 

Feeling the brush of tiny wings, Harry grasped at the snitch and pulled it out of the tangle of bodies, thrusting his arm into the air. The snitch, for its part, immediately stopped struggling. 

“I’ve got it!” Harry yelled triumphantly; Newt and Credence cheered; the door to the office swung open. 

The three looked up from the floor in unison at the newcomers. The first Harry recognised as a very unimpressed Percival Graves, head of the DMLE. Harry’s face flamed as he realised exactly how stupid they looked, covered in plant dirt and other questionable substances in a pile on the floor. Harry’s hand was still in the air, clutching the snitch… he lowered it sheepishly.  

The second man Harry had never seen in person, though he knew at once who it must be. Black wavy hair, perfectly styled. Porcelain skin. Limber and tall. Sharp, angled features, and handsome, oh so handsome… this had to be Tom Riddle, Permanent Secretary to the DMLE and Minister Picquery’s (unofficial) first advisor. If Harry wasn’t already bright red, he would blush again. 

Riddle’s eyes met his and Harry looked back to Graves quickly, not wanting to be caught staring (though he was sure Riddle must have known).

“What on earth…” Graves started, but then shook his head and bent down to help Credence to his feet, shifting Harry and Newt around in the process. 

A hand appeared next to Harry’s face and he looked up, wondering if Riddle meant the hand for Newt instead, but Riddle’s eyes were locked on Harry and he had no choice but to take the (soft! Firm! Warm!) hand and let himself be pulled effortlessly to his feet. 

“Thanks,” Harry said quietly, unsure where he stood. 

“Please don’t tell me that you three were playing some bastardised version of Quidditch when we came in,” Riddle said, and Harry looked down to the snitch and then at Newt. 

Newt had pulled himself to his feet, taking the niffler with him and grinning. “Got him,” he said to Harry, who had to stifle a laugh. “Scourgify,” he added, cleaning himself and Harry.

Credence, on the other hand, had already been dusted off by a suspiciously personal Graves. 

“So this is the new apprentice to the disastrous duo,” Graves commented at Harry wryly, the insult mollified somewhat by an affectionate hand on Credence’s shoulder.

“I had hoped that whoever it was would be a  _ good  _ influence on the pair, but I see I have misjudged,” Riddle replied. 

Harry crossed his arms, indignant. “I’ve only been here for half an hour!” he said. 

Riddle looked amused. “I’m not sure whether that speaks for you or against,” he remarked. 

Graves cleared his throat. “As much as I’d like to hear the whole story- and I  _ will  _ be hearing it, by the way- there is actually a reason Tom and I dropped in.” He sighed. “There’s been a report of a large creature attacking a witch and a couple of muggles. We need you to identify it and tell us how to neutralise it, fast.”

“What about the other investigators? Grimblehawk, for example?” Newt asked, though it was clear his interest was piqued. 

“All busy, but when we go into the field it’ll be with a bunch of my aurors to make up for it. Do you know of any creatures that are, and I quote, like a ‘giant red spidery thing’?”

The first thing to come to Harry’s mind was aromantacula, but that couldn’t be right because to his knowledge they weren’t red. 

“You want to know how to neutralise it?” Newt asked. Graves nodded. “Alright. I might know what it is, but to be certain- and to trap it- I’ll need a moleskin pouch filled with three decoy detonators, a probity probe, spellotape, and a rubber duck.” 

Riddle and Graves exchanged a look. 

“Don’t you trust him?” Credence asked, but quickly amended this when he realised this was perhaps the wrong question to ask. “He’s the best magizoologist in the world, he knows what he’s doing.” 

Riddle looked unconvinced, but Graves shrugged. “You boys wait here. We’ll get you your items, and  _ then _ we’ll come up with a plan, get the aurors, and go.” 

Riddle’s eyes met Harry’s one more time before he and Graves left the room, leaving Harry feeling a little flustered. A few seconds passed before he turned to Newt, who was returning niffler to the suitcase. 

_ “Do  _ you know what you’re doing?” 

Newt beamed. “Absolutely.” 

“And what’s that?” 

“Breaking the rules. Look, I think I know what this creature is and I don’t want it  _ neutralised!  _ It needs to be studied. Objectively. By us.” Newt locked the suitcase and picked it up without a care. It was surprisingly trippy to witness. “The things I asked for were, naturally, pointless. But it will buy us some time so that we can get to it first without the aurors barging in and making a mess of things- no offence, Credence.”

“None taken,” Credence said with a smile. At Harry’s questioning look, he clarified. “Me and Mr Graves, we’re uh, dating.” 

“Okay, but there’s a problem with that plan,” Harry said. “We don’t know where the creature is.” 

Newt nodded. “I suspect Percival left that particular detail out on purpose. But it’s no matter, Queenie should be on her shift now, we’ll pay her a visit.” 

Harry had no idea who this Queenie was, but he followed Newt and Credence from the office anyway. He slipped the snitch into his pocket where it was content to stay, safe from any wandering paws. 

It had only been forty minutes. 


	2. Crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are a few slight hiccups when following Newt's plan to capture the beast.

“Do you go find trouble in dangerous situations without backup often, if Graves knows to omit the location of the attack?”

The lift was empty apart from the three of them this time, and Harry was rather grateful for it.

Credence’s mouth quirked upwards. “We figure that between the best magizoologist there has even been and an obscurus we’re pretty well defended. And even better, now we have you, an actual auror-in-training. You’re almost an auror. We’re practically following the rules. It should be a breeze.”

“So where are we going?”

“Queenie’s a secretary in the Apparition Test Centre, it’s on the way. She’s a legilimens, and she can help up find the creature.”

Harry nodded, trusting that Newt had everything under control. They got out on Level 6 and he and Credence lingered by the lift while Newt fetched Queenie.

Queenie, when she appeared, reminded Harry strongly of Luna in the way she held herself. She had short curly hair and an extremely kind, pretty face. Harry thought she’d make a good interrogator, looking so innocent and trustable yet possessing the ability of legilimency.

Harry had been taught the gist of occlumency once, but it had not turned out particularly well for him. Something told him that he would not be able to apply it against Queenie even if he wanted to.

“Hi there,” she beamed at Harry. “It’s nice to meet you.” Harry shook her hand. For some reason Newt found this amusing.

The lift ride down was quiet as there was another woman in the lift with them. However when they got out, Queenie pulled them all aside.

“So you want me to read Percy or Mr Riddle’s mind to find out where this beast is, right? And you’re _certain_ they’re behind the security desk?”

Newt nodded. “That’s where they’re most likely to find everything I asked for, so that’s where they’ll be.”

“Alright. How ‘bout Harry comes with me as a distraction, then?”

Harry blinked. “Wait- what?”

Queenie smiled. “I’ll need you to distract them while I read their minds. It would be suspicious if I went in alone.”

Harry didn’t know why Newt or Credence couldn’t do it instead, having history with Graves and Riddle and better knowledge of how to bluff their way through a conversation with them. But Queenie’s smile turned mischievous, and she pulled at Harry’s hand.

“We’ll see you two in a little bit,” she said to the other two. Credence looked doubtful, but unfortunately he said nothing, leaving Harry with Queenie.

Quietly, when they were out of earshot, Queenie leant down and whispered to Harry. “If I’m reading it right, and I’m pretty sure I am, Tom will be more willing to talk to you than the others.”

Harry frowned, not following her thought process. “Why?”

“You have a little crush on him, right? Let me see what I can do for you.”

Harry’s face, only having recently recovered from being walked in on in Newt’s office, returned to its previous shade of red. But he was in this situation now, like it or not. He squared his shoulders and tried to prepare himself.

At the mention of the name ‘Tom Riddle’, the woman at the security desk immediately shooed them into the confiscated items cupboard.

The door closed, revealing a larger-than-it-seemed room (but not one so impressive as Newt’s suitcase) reminiscent of the Room of Requirement, housing shelves upon shelves of strange items. He thought he could see Riddle in the distance through the gaps in the shelves. Riddle stopped and turned.

“Hello?”

Queenie started down one of the aisles to hide herself, but paused to whisper to him. “Oh! I just remembered, he can read minds too.”

Harry froze. “What?”

“Don’t worry,” Queenie assured. “Just don’t look him in the eyes for too long and you’ll be alright.”

“Wait- no- I didn’t agree to this-”

Riddle emerged from behind a shelf and Harry composed himself as best he could.

“Oh. It’s you,” Riddle said, and Harry didn’t know whether or not to be offended. Don’t look him in the eyes. Right.

“Hello Mr Riddle, er, Newt just sent me down to see if you’ve got what he wanted yet.”

“Not quite yet,” Riddle said, holding his hand out to show Harry a roll of spellotape and a few of the Weasleys’ decoy detonators. “Percy’s just gone up to borrow a rubber duck from a colleague- Arthur Weasley, if you’ve heard of him.”

Harry tried for a smile. “That’s great, I’m sure Newt will be really grateful for your help. Um… well, you know, tell us whenever you’re done.”

“We’ll do that,” Riddle said, then tilted his head. “You could stay if you’d like. I wouldn’t mind the company.”  

Harry glanced at where Queenie should be, but of course she wasn’t able to give any indication of what he should do or whether she was done yet. “I- sure.”

Riddle gestured for Harry to follow him back to where he’d been searching. Harry pretended to busy himself with the shelves while Riddle did so in earnest.

“So what is the famous Harry Potter doing, apprenticing himself to Newt Scamander of all people?”

“You don’t like him?” Harry asked, looking at Riddle over his shoulder.

Riddle shrugged. On him even that movement looked graceful. “I don’t dislike him. It just seems incongruent to the image the Prophet paints of you.”

A stab of irritation. “You of all people should know not to trust anything the Prophet says about anyone.”

Riddle laughed. “I’m sure you’re right. I’ve been trying to get that Skeeter woman sacked for years- making up ridiculous slander about me and my colleagues- but she’s too popular with readers.”

“You’ve been trying to get her sacked?”

Riddle turned to look at him, too. “Presumably you’re aware of the influence the Ministry has on the Prophet. Why does that surprise you?”

“It’s not that, I just assumed the Ministry like Rita Skeeter.”

“Oh, they do,” Riddle assured. “I prefer not to think of myself as part of the hive mind, though. Some of them aren’t; Percival, Picquery of course, and that Granger who’s been working her way up the ranks…”

Harry’s eyebrows shot up. How could he have forgotten that Hermione was working at the Ministry too? Granted, she’d been saying she was about to get fired for her anti-politician attitude for months now, but that didn’t excuse it. He made a mental note to visit her at some point.

“... Newt and Credence, obviously. And now I suppose I can add you to that list, can I, Harry?”

“I hope so, Mr Riddle.”

“Call me Tom.” Riddle said, holding out a hand.

Harry shook Riddle’s- _Tom’s_ hand and smiled. “Okay, Tom. I will.”

They went back to searching (or in Harry’s case ‘searching’) in an amicable silence, broken a few moments later by an “Aha!” from Tom. “I think I’m almost done finding everything, so we can return to Newt in a few minutes.”

Ah. Oh. Okay. Harry racked his brains for any way to draw out Tom’s search. “Oh!” he said in false surprise, even going as far as to hit his forehead with the palm of his hand. “I forgot, Newt also wanted me to tell you that he needs five pairs of earmuffs and a pumpkin too.”

Tom frowned. “... Really?”

Harry grimaced, looking at Tom’s face but trying to avoid his eyes as Queenie had instructed him. “I don’t know why, I’m new here. I’m just assuming Newt knows what he’s doing.”

Tom nodded slowly. “As are we all. Alright, I’ll see what I can do.” He and Harry stood, but as Tom moved up the aisle Harry hesitated, wondering if he’d given Queenie enough time already. He looked around, spotting a dash of pink and a thumbs up which disappeared right before Tom noticed that Harry wasn’t following. “Are you coming?”

Harry shook his head. “I should probably get back and update Newt, actually, but… it was nice meeting you.”

Tom looked a little suspicious, but all the same he replied, “It was good to make your acquaintance as well, Harry.”

Harry’s smile was genuine as he looked into Tom’s eyes, and something in Tom’s expression softened. Harry turned and left before Tom could find anything else.

Queenie was beaming when they met at the door. “Good going, Harry!” she said after she thanked the security desk woman. “I’ve got the location, and by the way, your little attraction to Tom? Mutual.”

Harry grinned and Queenie winked at him.

Newt and Credence perked up at their arrival. “Well?” Newt said. “Do you know it?”

“A sea town in Wales,” Queenie responded. “I’ll take you there. We have a little time, thanks to Harry’s quick thinking, but not a lot.”

Newt turned to Credence. “Can we pretend that we already did the part where I try to make you stay out of concern for your safety and my livelihood at the hands of Percival Graves?”

Credence nodded eagerly. “Let’s go!”

Newt turned to Harry next. “I’d say something similar to you except if you can survive a conversation alone with Tom Riddle with your wits intact, you can survive this.”  

“Now that’s settled, do hold on.” Queenie offered her arms to the boys, and a few seconds later they were off.

The experience was as unpleasant as it always was, a squeezing sensation that left Harry relieved when it was over and they landed on the slope of a chilly hillside. One heating charm later, he looked up.

“Wands out, everybody,” Newt warned, brandishing his own and scanning the hillside for any clues.

Everybody complied.

There was a salty taste to the air, meaning they must be close to the sea. But Harry couldn’t see it, only rolling hills in one direction and their own hill in front of them; the sea must have been on the other side, which was where they were headed. The sky was darkened with impending rain, but the rain hadn’t broken just yet.

“What are we actually looking for?” Harry asked.

“A quintaped,” called Newt. “Must have wandered into a portal or been smuggled by someone to end up here. Giant red hairy spider with a face. Carnivorous.”

“Then I think we’re really close,” Harry replied, pointing to the ground nearby, where the bones of what must have been sheep lay scattered.

It was with a bit more wariness that they all turned back to the climb. Harry’s heart, at least, was beating loudly in his ears. Wait. No, that wasn’t right-

“Can anyone else hear that?” Credence asked quietly.

The sound, a kind of dull thudding, got louder as they got closer to the top of the hill.

“Remember, we don’t want to hurt it. We just want to get it inside my case. Stunning is alright, but don’t be too forceful- oh!”

They were most certainly in the right place; the quintaped was on the other side of the hill, bones in its wake, heading towards the muggle town town and docks at the bottom of the hill, where the lighthouse light was shining because of the grey sky. Harry and the others rushed to the other side of the hilltop and paused.

“How do we distract it?” Queenie called.

Newt cocked his head to the side and held out his wand. “What if I-? Accio quintaped!”

Harry stared as the quintaped shuddered, stopped, and then began to zoom past them. It was almost amusing, particularly as its face looked like a vampire from a muggle storybook, except it meant that-

“Get down!”

Queenie, Credence, and Harry threw themselves to the ground. Newt stayed put, opening his case and only sidestepping at the last second. The quintaped collided with the suitcase and sent it and Newt sprawling, making strange hissing noises that gave Harry a sense of déjà vu.

They all struggled to their feet, shooting stunning spells in the process, but they had little effect on a creature so large.

“Get my suitcase!” Newt yelled, attempting to dodge a bit from the quintaped’s disturbingly large mouth. “And don’t hurt it!” Newt rolled so that he was no longer underneath the quintaped. It managed to rip his shoulder and draw blood.

Harry, Credence, and Queenie sent another round of stunning spells, which the quintaped shrugged off. They continued to advance as the quintaped paid them no mind, and on the off-chance the spell would work on a creature that wasn’t quite a spider, Harry called out:

“Arania Exumai!”

The quintaped was blasted back in a ray of bright light, to Harry’s knowledge unharmed as per Newt’s request. Newt recovered his suitcase from a few metres away, holding it in front of him as the quintaped got up.

“I need to get one of its legs in here, and then the rest will follow,” Newt called to them. Which unfortunately meant that Arania Exumai wasn’t of much use as it would repel the quintaped instead of bring it to them.

The quintaped charged towards them again, their wands and Newt’s suitcase at the ready, and a ray of light from the lighthouse passed over them. It wouldn’t have mattered but the quintaped screeched and ducked its head for a few seconds, while the others looked at each other in confusion.

“If it was smuggled... the smuggler might have trained it to be scared of bright light in order to keep it under control,” Credence said as the quintaped recovered itself. They might be able to use this somehow.

It charged again.

“Lumos!” Queenie exclaimed, but though the spell worked its effect was more limited- it hissed and snapped its mouth shut, but it still ran through the group, kicking them all to the ground with its five large legs. Harry personally felt like he’d just been hit in the stomach by the Whomping Willow.

The quintaped turned again, its mouth salivating hungrily. It had a crazed look in its eye, as if it held no logic in its mind except how best to eat the four of them.

They would evidently need more light than that to daze it, but after that, what then? Harry hoped Newt had a plan up his sleeve because Harry certainly did not.

Five loud cracks turned all of their heads.

The aurors had arrived on the other side of the hilltop, led by Graves and Tom. Their expressions were _furious._ But they didn’t have time to lecture, for the quintaped had turned and was charging at them instead. Tom stepped in front of Graves. All of their wands raised- but they didn’t know what would and wouldn’t be effective, and Tom would only be the first casualty!

Harry plucked at his mind for the brightest spell he knew, already turning around to apparate.

“Expecto-”

He appeared in front of the aurors, sharp wide teeth inches from his face.

“-Patronum!”

The stag burst from his wand, brighter by far than any Lumos Harry had ever cast. The quintaped screamed- which would have been weird for a spider, Harry thought, but this wasn’t really a spider- and stumbled backwards.

Right into Newt’s case, which Newt had placed on the ground only just before. Not even ten second later, the quintaped had been swallowed into the suitcase, and the hilltop was quiet but for Credence saying “By the way, Episkey,” and healing Newt’s cut. Harry turned around, suddenly wishing he was not alone in facing Graves’ and Tom’s wrath.

But while Graves was still furious, Tom’s expression seemed to have frozen on his face.

“Scamander!” Graves growled, stepping forward and deciding not to chew out Harry for the moment. Harry took the opportunity to apparate back to Newt’s side, and he thought the sickly feeling afterwards was worth the distance.

Newt clapped him on the shoulder. “Good job, Harry. I think you’ll make an excellent addition to the Beast Division,” he said, just as Graves reached them, Tom and the other aurors (who looked a little lost) trailing behind.

“What the hell was _that?!”_ Graves yelled, directing his question at Newt.

“It was a stag,” Newt replied pleasantly. “Or if you’re referring to the creature, it was a quintaped. Rather rare, but it’s in my book. My only other chance to study one was limited, so I hope you don’t mind-”

 _“Mind?!_ Are you out of _your_ mind?” Graves demanded. “And you, Credence, why would you let him do this?! You could have been hurt! You should have waited for us!”

Credence’s expression barely changed. “Newt _was_ hurt. And yet, he’s completely fine. And why would waiting for you have made so much of a difference when Harry was the one who saved all of you from getting eaten anyway?”

Harry looked away as Graves continued to berate Newt and Credence, but found Tom’s eyes focused on him instead. A surge of trepidation went through him, as well as a small amount of guilt.

“When did you learn to do that?” Tom asked him quietly, so that he was not interrupting Graves.

“Do what? The patronus?”

Tom nodded.

“I was thirteen,” he answered. If this surprised Tom, he didn’t show it, but continued to stare at Harry strangely.

“You lied to me,” he said eventually.

Harry nodded. “Yeah.”

“You also threw yourself between me and a class XXXXX beast.”

“Yeah.”

Tom was silent. Harry looked to Graves and Newt, who were still arguing, though Newt almost seemed amused by the whole thing. Probably knew he wasn’t in any danger considering the Ministry needed him more than he needed the Ministry. Queenie and Credence were both on the other side of Newt, arms crossed, looking decidedly less amused with Graves.

“Speaking from past experience, they're going to be a while,” Tom said, nodding towards the group. “Aurors,” he said, raising his voice slightly to be heard, “you can go back to the Ministry.”

There was a series of cracks, during which Graves stopped speaking, and then the aurors were gone.

“In our lunch break, would you like to get some coffee with me?” Tom asked, taking Harry by surprise. Harry studied his face and found only earnesty and a lack of the usual hesitation or embarrassment Harry had come to expect with being asked to lunch.

Lunch with Tom Riddle. This was certainly an unexpected first day working for the Ministry.

“Yeah,” Harry said again, smiling. “I’d like that a lot.”


	3. A Slight Misunderstanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom and Harry find themselves in the middle of an argument. Tom uses it as an excuse to confirm a theory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I saw your (Clarisse's) post saying that you prefer description to dialogue, but when I said to myself "I can do that!" Harry & co laughed at me.

“Tina’s not there,” Seraphina said with a small pout. It quickly disappeared from her face when another Ministry employee walked past, and Tom hid a smirk behind his coffee.

“You know where she’s most likely to be, in that case, unless you’re willing to wait until she returns…” 

Seraphina rolled her eyes. “The Beast Division, I know. Mr Scamander’s office. The usual. What does she even do there? She’s an auror, she should be doing her job!” 

Tom led the way to the lift, waiting until they were alone inside it but for a few memos to continue their conversation. “She’s allowed breaks. And it’s not as if there’s a shortage of aurors in the office, we’re in a time of peace. One missing auror won’t sink this ship.”

“Before I knew you I thought you were a real stickler to the rules, Riddle. I was so wrong.”

Tom shrugged. “Some rules have exceptions,” was all he said, and let Seraphina take from it what she would. “You don’t even need to speak to Tina.”

“I do need to-”

“Every tiny thing she does, you find a reason to bring her up to your office and berate her for it. You’ll end up pushing her away if you continue-” Seraphina moved as if to argue but Tom held his hand up to quiet her, something he would never have dared to do in public. “I understand that, in your strange, standoffish way it’s only an excuse to talk to her, but not everyone can take the constant rejection you dole out, least of all the woman who’s in love with you.”

Seraphina glared at him. “Are you accusing me of abusing my position of power?” 

“Not in so many words, but yes, that’s exactly what I’m accusing you of.” Tom didn’t break eye contact with Seraphina until she looked away, and he knew he was correct from her surface thoughts that mainly consisted of confliction and mild guilt.

Eventually Seraphina sighed. She pinched the bridge of her nose before she replied. “When did you grow a moral compass, Tom? Shouldn’t it be me berating  _ you  _ for being too cruel, and accusing  _ you _ of taking advantage of your own power?” 

Tom smiled lightly, the picture of innocence. “I’ve never done any such thing, and I can’t believe you’d even  _ suggest  _ I might be capable of it.” 

“Such lies,” Seraphina said without missing a beat. She looked thoughtful, and then a sly smile wormed its way onto her face. “Maybe it’s the influence of your new infatuation, hmm?” 

Tom didn’t rise to the bait. “Trying to change the topic? When have you ever know me to have  _ infatuations?”  _

Seraphina mock frowned, pretending to remember. “Funny, I don’t count any. Which makes it all the more interesting that you have one now.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking-”

“You do set your sights high, don’t you? Controversial to some, of course, but I don’t remember  _ one week  _ I haven’t seen or heard the Unspeakables complaining about not being able to dissect him. Better not let them know where you get coffee with him twice a week or they might fight you for him.”

Tom gave an involuntary shudder at the idea and vanished the empty coffee cup in his hand. While he’d always held a morbid fascination with the Department of Mysteries, he preferred the power and influence that came with his own position.

“You seem to be paying particularly close attention to my coffee-getting habits as of late. Should I be concerned?”  

“Just looking out for a friend. But don’t get me wrong- I’m grateful,” Seraphina said. “If he keeps you on the straight and narrow it’s all the better for me. I don’t need the added stress of not knowing whether you’re being a good human or not at any given time.” 

Tom chose not to reply to that- if Seraphina genuinely believed that Tom was corrupt, she’d turn him in immediately, and Graves would do the same. It was good, then, that he no longer needed to be corrupt and hadn’t for years, or it would be far more awkward to be one of the unofficial triumvirate of the Ministry. 

“I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tom said, but his half-hearted pretense was utterly spoiled when they arrived at the Beast Division and the first words spoken to them were: 

“Afternoon, Mr Riddle! Looking for Harry again? He’s in the suitcase with Tina at the moment, I’m sure they’d love the company. Good day, Madame Picquery.”

Why did Tom put up with Newt Scamander again?  

Tom grimaced and Seraphina levelled a smug, knowing look at him. “Thank you Mr Scamander,” Seraphina called as they passed. Scamander appeared to be holding a pair of kneazles in his arms and quietly singing to them, and Tom decided he’d rather not know. 

Seraphina opened the door to Scamander’s dull office and Tom lamented the laziness of Newt, Credence, and Harry combined as there was still soot on the floor from their encounter the month previous. Seraphina lifted her wand to clear it up, clearly also exasperated, but Tom touched her shoulder and brought his finger to his lips at the muted sound of talking. 

It was coming, naturally, from Scamander’s suitcase that was just placed carelessly on the floor. While the suitcase was closed over, the snaps weren’t closed, and there was a small gap through which sound was escaping. 

Tom and Seraphina crept closer to the suitcase, and the voices became more distinct. 

“-Don’t know Harry, Newt’s tried to dissuade me but I can’t help it if I’m not happy here.” 

“Obviously you have to do what’s best for you, but I thought you loved your job… I mean, if your job isn’t making you happy, that’s another story- but you worked so hard to become an auror.” 

“That’s true of course, but I don’t want to stay in a place where I’m undervalued and unwanted.”

“So you’re going to quit? Or just move departments?” 

Before Tom could stop her, Seraphina threw the case open and climbed down. Sighing and mourning the loss of the tact Seraphina was  _ supposed  _ to have, Tom followed her down. 

“Tina! You’re quitting?” 

Tina looked the most conflicted Tom had ever seen her, but in all fairness he didn’t make it a personal goal to see Tina’s various facial expressions. Harry on the other hand, Tom sook out, not having seen him for four days. 

He was in the middle of some mundane activity at the table, visibly distressed, and though seeing Tom relaxed him slightly (a motion Tom observed with a warm feeling in his chest), his distress was not entirely alleviated. 

Tom put two and two together- Tina’s quitting and their distress at being confronted by Seraphina specifically- and found he could share some of Harry’s discomfort. 

“Yes, Madame, I’m quitting. Do you have a problem with that?” Tina, apparently, had chosen anger. 

“Yes, obviously! Why would you leave?” 

Tom eyed the exit. 

“Why? I’ll tell you why! You keep calling me into your office to shout at me for literally anything and I can’t do  _ anything  _ right!”

Tina was saying what Tom himself had said only minutes ago, but Seraphina’s reactions were far less fun when the criticisms were coming from the object of her affections. 

In fact, Tom did not want to be a part of this conversation. At all. Which was great, as Tina and Seraphina seemed to have forgotten that he and Harry were in the room, but any movement risked them remembering. And Tom… 

“I just don’t understand why I’m the only one being called in for my mistakes! I’m doing my best, better even that some of the others, but it’s me you’re singling out!” 

Mother of Merlin, Tom did not want to be in the room right now. 

He looked to Harry, who was equally bewildered and frozen on the spot. Clearly wanting to look at anything else but the two shouting women, his eyes met Tom’s and widened. His gaze flickered between him and the pair, and Tom wanted so badly to know what he was thinking but Harry wouldn’t maintain eye contact for long enough.

Harry jerked his head back, gesturing to one of the doors, and Tom nodded firmly. An escape. Yes. 

Tom would for a very long time insist that the next minute or so was the most agonising of his time at the Ministry, edging very slowly to the door behind Harry and trying to block out what Tina and Seraphina were shouting at each other.

“You can’t even imagine what it feels like to think, every time I do something even slightly wrong I’m going to be chewed out by you- of all people!- and I don’t want to go through that anymore!”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Tom’s only solace was the constant internal reminder that he had the power to kill everyone in the room so if it got  _ too  _ bad he could put an end to it… and every time his and Harry’s eyes met across the room Harry would pull a face that brought a smile to Tom’s own. They had just reached the door when Seraphina dropped the first bombshell: 

“I just wanted a reason to see you!” 

Tina was quiet. Harry opened the door and practically slammed it shut behind them both. They were silent for a moment, but Harry cracked a smile and then they were both laughing. 

The laughter only lasted, of course, until the shouting started up again. 

Harry was very eager to lead Tom away from the door, taking his hand but unfortunately dropping it as soon as he realised what he’d done. Tom was reminded of what Seraphina had been saying to him earlier. Infatuation… yes, Tom was ever so slightly infatuated with Harry-  _ slightly _ . But the only way to find out if the attraction was mutual, for Tom would never admit it without knowing how Harry would react, was to make Harry think about it and then read his surface thoughts on the matter. Which was easier thought than done considering Harry seemed to have difficulty keeping eye-contact with Tom at all. If Tom didn’t know better, he’d think that Harry knew about his accomplishments in legilimency, but that couldn’t be right because the only people who knew about that were Percival and Seraphina, who would never tell, especially to someone they barely knew. 

So. To deciphering Harry.

The room Harry had taken him to was still close enough so that they could hear the muffled shouts of the women, and Tom found himself torn between hoping Newt stayed away for his own sake and hoping Newt stumbled into the mess for Tom’s amusement. 

“How about I… give you a tour?” Harry suggested, cheeks dusted red with second-hand embarrassment. 

Tom spread his arms in invitation. “I’m all ears. Really.”

Harry grinned and gestured to the rest of the room, a cosy reception room that was like the first except with tables similar to muggle lab tables. This room, too, was covered with so much organised chaos that Tom could have mistaken it for the Confiscated Items Closet did he not… well, have eyes. 

“Speaking of ears, why are there so many Weasleys Wizard Wheezes in here?” Tom said before Harry could say anything, nudging a pile of Extendable Ears that had fallen to the floor. 

Harry grimaced. “Yeah, that’s my fault.”

Tom raised an eyebrow. “Really? I wouldn’t have taken you for a prankster.”

“No no, that’s- that’s not what I meant. I’m kind of friends with the Weasley twins, you know, the founders. When they heard that I took up a job at the Ministry, they got really loud about how dull it is and that I’d need their products regularly or I’d die of boredom. Er, no offence.” 

An image of a red-haired boy of about Harry’s age swam to the forefront of Harry’s thoughts. Another Weasley. 

“There’s a Weasley working in muggle relations, is there not?” Tom asked. 

Harry nodded. “Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, yeah, Arthur Weasley. Ron’s- their dad. Why, do you know him?” 

Tom shook his head, still trying to maintain eye contact with Harry. “Know of him, but don’t know him. I don’t have much of an interest in muggle artifacts or the like.”

Something seemed to shift in Harry at that, his stare becoming more piercing. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked in a harder tone. 

Well, this was interesting. Tom almost smiled, but didn’t want Harry to have further reason to argue with him. “Simply that my job in the auror department doesn’t have much of an overlap with the muggle relations department,” he said lightly, watching Harry’s body language with particular fervor. “Why do you ask?”

Harry softened slightly. “So you don’t- you aren’t-” 

“Do I have a specific prejudice against muggles?” For some reason, Harry reddened, and Tom realised that he was treading on thin ice for the moment. “No more than any other wizard, I am sure.” 

Harry bit his lip and looked around. “So this is the junk room, as Credence puts it. We-”

“Were you raised by muggles?” Tom interrupted. He knew the answer even before Harry answered. 

“...Yeah. What of it?” Harry asked, back on the defensive. 

Tom shrugged, purposefully looking away to give Harry space. Harry's response would be important to how Tom courted him and Tom wanted to get an accurate answer. “I was just wondering. But you’re well versed in wizarding traditions and the like, yes?” 

“I did go to Hogwarts, Tom.”

The use of his name made Tom look back to Harry, who looked him in the eye unflinchingly. Tina and Seraphina were still shouting. 

“One of my best friends is muggleborn and she was the smartest witch in our year,” Harry continued in a similar hard tone, misunderstanding. “You mentioned her yourself, actually.”

Granger. The image of her was in Harry’s surface thoughts. But as interesting as the discussion was, Tom did not want to be on Harry’s bad side… and that must have been the first time Tom had ever thought that about someone, but he supposed there were first times for everything.  

“You’re rather smart yourself,” Tom said, making Harry blush to Tom’s great satisfaction. 

“Not as smart as her, or- or you,” he stammered. This was Tom’s chance.

Tom took a step closer to Harry, watching Harry stiffen in his confliction of whether to stay in the same place or take a step back. “I disagree. I think you have a rather large…” he paused. Harry’s eyes widened ever so slightly. “... IQ.” 

Harry swallowed. “Yup,” he said quietly. “You too.” 

Tom smirked. 

And then the shouting got louder. Tom sighed and rolled his eyes. Had they moved closer to the door or something? Were they  _ trying  _ to be disrupting?

“I would say back to the tour but I realised the flaw in that plan,” Harry said loudly to combat the increased volume.

“And what’s that?” 

“All the rooms are reachable from  _ that  _ room,” he replied, nodding to the room that the shouting was coming from. “So we’re kind of stuck in here.” 

Tom shrugged. “There are worse places to be stuck in. And worse people to be stuck with.” 

Harry smiled, the nervous persona seemingly overcome by the realisation that he was not quite as bad at this as Tina Goldstein. And Tom was almost certain that he was right, based on Harry’s physical reaction to him. “Likewise,” he said.

There was an image now in Harry’s head of Harry and the two other people Tom had seen in Harry’s thoughts in Hogwarts, in what seemed to be a greenhouse. The other two were arguing while Harry was hitting something very loudly, remarkably similar to this situation they were in now. 

“Ron and Hermione, sixth year. They’re together now,” Harry explained with a knowing look. 

Tom’s brow furrowed. “How did you-?” 

“Maybe I’m as clever as you say I am,” Harry said, moving away from Tom, much to the disappointment of the latter.  

Tom’s smile was bemused. So Harry knew that Tom had been trying to read Harry’s thoughts and he… didn’t mind? That wasn’t an outcome Tom had expected, but it made things easier in the long run. Now all that was left was to formally court Harry and gauge his reaction. Harry couldn’t be  _ opposed  _ to him, certainly not from the evidence he’d shown today. 

Harry picked up a wand on the table and waved it. It turned into a rubber chicken, but Harry seemed to be expecting this, as he huffed a laugh and set it back down again. 

“I tried to learn occlumency once,” Harry said in a faraway voice. He turned to look Tom in the eye again. “It went badly.”

Tom barely restrained himself from correcting him to ‘poorly’, but instead offered, “I could teach you if you’d like.”

Under Harry’s gaze Tom felt as exposed as people tended to be to him and his legilimency. He wondered if Harry too could see his thoughts, his plans, how he wanted to brace Harry against the table and lavish intimate affections on him until they both forgot the rest of the world existed. 

But Harry only cocked his head to the side with a strange smile and said, “I bet you could.” 

In the charged silence that followed, they both realised something. The shouting had stopped. Tom looked to the door, wary that either someone had died or there was an amount of fucking happening on the other side. 

Harry seemed on the same wavelength. “Do you think they’ve gotten together now?” 

“Hopefully more in the metaphorical sense than in the literal sense, or you and I will never leave this room.”

Harry laughed, and Tom found himself laughing too. 

Courting. Since Harry had assured him he was sufficiently versed in wizarding traditions, he would court Harry in the traditional wizarding fashion by gifting him with an object signifying his intentions, and they would continue one way or another from there. 

When they did leave the room, after many, “Is it too early?”s and, “I’m not taking my chances yet,”s, it was to find Tina and Seraphina rather closer physically than they had been before, with red cheeks and swollen lips. 

Harry was the first to speak. “Not… not quitting anymore, are you Tina?”

Seraphina’s grip on Tina tightened slightly, much to Tom’s amusement. 

“Nope!” Tina squeaked.

“I think we ought to be getting back now, don’t you think? Don’t want to be accused of slacking off or something similar,” Tom said, with subtle emphasis on ‘slacking off’.

Seraphina nodded quickly, separating herself from Tina and straightening out her clothes. “Something similar. Right.” 

And it was with a mind laden with plans and a partner laden with unfinished business that Tom Riddle left the Beast Division that afternoon. 


	4. Hiss Hiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have one hour to find a snake before the Ministry burns down. Harry deals with the panic as well as we expect him to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I put a lot of effort into my chapter titles. Also Happy actual Valentine's Day!

If nothing else, in the four months that Harry has been Newt’s apprentice Harry has learnt this: Newt Scamander’s Ministry job is to be himself. 

While Harry’s preconceptions of the Ministry wanting order and discipline may be true in other departments, Newt and Credence (and Harry, now) were basically paid to be occasional consultants for everyone in the Beast Division while messing around, researching, and caring for magical creatures.

As it happened, today’s ‘messing around’ involved setting fire to the Ministry of Magic employee regulations manual in order to breed an ashwinder.

The bluebell flames leisurely devoured the book while Newt was educating Harry and Credence on the nature of the snake they were trying to breed. 

“... any magical fire such as this one as long as it’s left unchecked until it burns out, and from the ashes- not unlike a phoenix in this respect- it rises. Their only purpose is to lay their eggs, usually in a dark corner somewhere, leaving an ashy trail behind it.” Newt frowned. “It’s a little sad, but ashwinders tend to live for no more than an hour before they lay their eggs and turn to dust. But  _ the eggs,  _ well, they’re so hot that if one allows the ashwinder to give birth its eggs will set the place on fire!”

Credence eyed the burning book warily. “I thought that ashwinder eggs were used in potions. How do you use them if they burn everything?” 

“A simple freezing charm does the trick, preferably  _ before  _ they burn everything. If the charm is strong enough it will stop the eggs generating more heat.” 

“So are we doing this to get the eggs?” Harry asked.

Newt shrugged. “Sure. I was doing it to have a little fun but that’s a good reason too.” 

Harry looked back to the dancing blue flames. The book was no more than a pile of ashes that would soon become the ashwinder. Would Harry be able to talk to it? He was certainly going to try… but for now, all he had to do was wait. 

His gaze strayed to a picture frame on the counter. Although the contents of the room changed constantly with whatever they were working on at the time, the frame and its picture never moved. The photo was of a young blonde girl smiling at the camera and occasionally bursting into giggles in true wizarding picture fashion.  

“That’s my sister,” Credence said, noticing where he was looking. “Adopted, but it doesn’t mean we’re any less close. Her name’s Modesty.”

Newt smiled. “She’s at Hogwarts as we speak, and turning into a brilliant young witch,” he said. 

Credence smiled crookedly at Harry and leaned closer, speaking in a conspiratorial whisper. “Modesty was sorted into Hufflepuff, and Newt is  _ very  _ proud.”

Harry grinned. “What about you? What house were you sorted into?” Even though Credence was close in age to him, Harry couldn’t remember ever seeing him at school. Maybe he had gone to a wizarding school in another country- but then why would his sister be going to Hogwarts? 

Credence’s smile wavered slightly. “I wasn’t. I never went to Hogwarts or any magical school- I was adopted and raised by, uh, muggles.” 

“I can relate- but I still went to Hogwarts of course,” Harry said.

Credence looked away. Clearly there was something else Harry didn’t know. He turned to Newt, who was watching Credence with a saddened expression.

Harry began to understand… it was to do with family; Credence didn’t go to school; Credence was ashamed; Newt was empathetic; Credence was an  _ obscurial,  _ and even more, the details of how this happened had been kept from the papers. Conclusion: Credence’s adopted family was  _ bad _ to him. 

“I can relate,” Harry said again, so quietly he thought Credence wouldn’t hear him, but Credence’s head snapped around to look him in the eye, surprised. Credence’s expression said more than words could, and Harry didn’t dare to speak.

A movement in the corner of Harry’s eye broke the moment, and Harry looked past Credence to see Modesty in her frame, jumping up and down and pointing.

“Oh… oh no,” Newt groaned, and then Harry knew what was wrong. 

The ashwinder had risen. And now it was missing. 

Harry stood up, on alert. “We can search the suitcase, it shouldn’t take that long-” 

“It’s no use,” Newt said mournfully. “Ashwinders leave a trail of- well, ash in their wake… why do we keep leaving that open?” 

There was a line of grey ash leading from the table to the ladder, and out of the suitcase. Credence cursed aloud, and Harry was close to doing the same. 

“Remember, ashwinders are usually pale grey with red eyes. You shouldn’t be able to miss it, snakes aren’t really that common in the Ministry,” Newt told them hurriedly as they followed the trail out of the suitcase, out of the office, and into the Beast Division.

Naturally, the Beast Division was a mess, and the trail was lost there. 

_ “Ashwinder!”  _ Harry hissed in Parseltongue on the off chance that the ashwinder could hear him.  _ “Ashwinder, come to me!”  _ Credence and Newt were looking at him oddly, and Harry remembered he had not disclosed this particular gift. “I’ll explain later, it’s not important right now. The ashwinder isn’t in the room- Newt, what do we do?” 

Harry and Credence turned to Newt for guidance, though Harry remained tense and could not stop glancing around just in case he caught a glimpse of grey scales. 

Newt looked as though it pained him to say his next words. “For once… for once I think we need to do the responsible thing. We need to alert either Percival, Riddle, or dare I say it, Madame Picquery. Whoever we find first. We only have an hour to find this beast so while usually I would suggest we clear it up on our own, I really don’t want to burn the Ministry down.”

They made a beeline for the lift and took it down to the Atrium as it was quicker than searching out the three individually. 

The receptionist glanced up at them, unimpressed and far too slow for any of them. “What can I do for-” 

“Are either Percival Graves, Tom Riddle, or Seraphina Picquery reachable at the moment?” Newt asked quickly. 

Harry had to clench his fist to hide his impatience when the receptionist took a good twenty seconds longer than she needed to to locate the three. 

“I’m sorry sirs, none of those people are in their offices at the moment. If you’d like to leave them a message-” 

Credence had already begun to walk away. “Thank you!” Harry called as an afterthought, following Credence and Newt away again. “What now?” 

“Beast Division. Looks like we actually have a use for my position of authority,” Newt said cryptically. Harry trusted that everything would become clear very soon; if there was something Newt wasn’t, it was secretive. Harry appreciated that about him. “Incidentally, should either of you have forgotten and should we need to use it, the freezing spell is ‘Glacius’. It may come in handy.” 

Newt had returned to a state of calm that had Harry puzzled. Upon seeing this, Newt smiled. “My philosophy is that-” 

“-worrying means you suffer twice,” Credence finished with a mischievous smile. Harry was glad that he, at least, could take some of Newt’s calmth. 

When they reached the Beast Division again, Tina and Queenie were waiting for them, alert and ready. Newt put a hand on both of their shoulders in gratitude before looking around and taking his wand out. 

“Sonorus,” he muttered before taking a deep breath. “Employees of the Beast Division. If you’re not doing something extremely important right now it is your duty to come out into the concourse and listen to me. 

“Yes, that’s a good amount of people, good. I’ll be brief: there is a creature loose in the Ministry right now that, while only classification XXX, could prove quite harmful if not found. It is an ashwinder, a grey snake. If we cannot find it within the next… fifty minutes, it will lay eggs that could cause a very large fire and hurt people in this building. I need you all to divide into eight groups and search one floor of the Ministry each. Our aim is to  _ capture  _ the ashwinder and return it here. My group here will search the DMLE. Important things to look out for- it will leave a trail of ash behind it, so while we’ve lost it now, if you see ash on the floor that’s a good indicator. Also, ashwinders like  _ dark  _ spaces so be sure to search every nook and cranny. 

“We will meet back here in an hour. After all, if we haven’t found it by then, we’ll know where it is by the shouts of ‘fire! Fire!’ Thank you all. Let’s go. Quietus.” 

The lifts were very crowded for the next few minutes, to say the least. Without needing to discuss it, Tina, Queenie, Newt, Credence, and Harry formed themselves into a group and waited to enter a lift. 

It had crossed his mind that, even if the ashwinder wasn’t found, surely the qualified witches wizards would be able to control the fire. However Newt’s words made him reconsider- after all, if the ashwinder hid itself in dark spaces that they wouldn’t expect, they might not know that there was a fire until it was too late. 

The thought made him uncomfortable, to say the least. 

Which made it even more irritating when they found a large gathering of people around a constructed dais in the DMLE- a dais that Tom, Graves, and Madame Picquery now stood on. Picquery seemed to be giving an address of some kind, and there were even reporters and cameras present. It made moving without attracting unwanted attention difficult.

“That puts a damper on our plan,” Tina commented in a low voice. “We could always get their attention somehow and get them to call the address off so we can search, but I don’t think they’d like that very much.” 

But they only needed a minimum of one person to search the room, so if Harry retrieved his invisibility cloak from the bag in his room,  _ he  _ could search it…

“Brilliant, Harry!” Queenie stage whispered. “You get it now, don’t worry, I’ll explain.”

Harry did as he was told. Every second spent not searching felt like sand through Harry’s fingers, and his impatience only grew. It was in a great hurry that he pulled out the invisibility cloak from his bag, the bag making a hissing noise at the force he yanked it with. It didn’t matter.

Traversing the Ministry was different on his own. More free, maybe, but also more lonely. It spoke volumes about how much he’d come to rely on the cheerful presence of Newt and the firm presence of Credence. And Tom…

He reached the DMLE again only minutes after he’d left, but it still felt like too much time. He pulled on the invisibility cloak immediately and got to work, for the others had already left to search. Harry thought he saw Hermione in the crowd- but no, he had a job to do. He started at the walls, at the corners, as it was highly unlikely that the ashwinder would hide in the crowd of people, trying to be as quiet as possible.   

And yet he still felt useless, like it wasn’t enough. Too slow. He grimaced, pausing to think. If he could call the ashwinder quietly enough that nobody would hear him speak, but loud enough that if he was very close to the ashwinder it would hear and obey him…? 

_ “Ashwinder, come to me,”  _ he tested, and though it didn’t call the snake to him, Harry felt this was a much more convenient way to go about things. 

Harry was quiet and he was thorough, crouching under the cloak and edging around the crowd so as not to draw attention to himself.  _ “Ashwinder, come to me,”  _ he hissed so softly. It was only a little while later when he felt eyes on him. How-?

Tom Riddle, naturally. Looking him directly in the eye when he turned around, though doing it subtly enough that nobody else noticed where Tom’s gaze was. Harry didn’t know whether to curse or thank Tom’s legilimency. 

As quickly as he dared, he went through his memories of the past twenty minutes in his head so Tom could understand, and when he was done Tom tilted his head ever so slightly, careful to make it look natural to the onlookers. 

_ I can’t leave this platform yet or Seraphina will kill me, but as soon as she’s done and this is over I swear I will help you. Don’t worry.  _

Tom’s voice whispered in Harry’s mind. Harry tried very hard not to think of the possibilities of that, or any Other Thoughts that would be incredibly embarrassing for Tom to overhear. 

Anyway.

Feeling mildly comforted by Tom, who was always in control and on top of things (and not in That Way, as much as Harry fantasised) Harry continued his search. But no matter how many times he hissed  _ “Ashwinder,”  _ the ashwinder did not come, and when he’d circled the entire concourse with no luck his spirits were down again. 

So the ashwinder wasn’t in this room. It could be in the next, or the next, or on any of the other eight floors. What was more, with so much movement the ‘dark spaces’ the ashwinder wanted to find kept changing, so the ashwinder could still be wandering around, about to be caught by any Ministry employee. 

But it wasn’t here. 

Casting one last glance at Tom (and the other two on the platform), Harry returned to the lift, figuring that he would reunite with Newt and the rest when the hour was up. He would at the very least return the cloak before searching again, and who knew? Maybe someone had already found the ashwinder and brought it back to the Beast Division.

As it happened, when Harry returned to the practically deserted floor, Credence was waiting outside the door to Newt’s office. His sullen expression lightened greatly when he caught sight of Harry. 

“Harry, I’m glad you’re here,” Credence said when Harry reached him. “I couldn’t find Newt or the others. Ashwinder was not in the room I searched. I’m going to make an educated guess that it wasn’t in yours either.” 

“You guessed right,” Harry replied. “I’m just putting this back into my bag.” Harry nodded to the cloak bundled on his arm and pushed open the door to Newt’s office.

“Only a few minutes left now… we’ll know soon enough where the ashwinder is,” Credence said as he followed Harry down into the suitcase. 

Harry nodded, pushing the door open to his room and flicking the lightswitch on. And then he saw the flicker of a grey tail, and he froze on the spot. 

It was underneath his bed. The ashwinder was underneath his bed. 

It was a pale grey, the colour of the ash from the cigarettes Uncle Vernon’s friends used to smoke. Its eyes were a strange, bloody red, and its body was swollen. 

“Credence,” Harry warned. “Get Newt. Now.” 

Credence didn’t need any more instruction than that. The ashwinder seemed content to stay where it was, but the quicker Newt saw it the quicker he would know what to do with it. 

_ “Ashwinder,”  _ Harry hissed, and for the first time it actually produced a response. 

_ “You speak,”  _ The ashwinder hissed, and to Harry it sounded ghostly.  _ “Leave me, rare one, if you do not wish to burn.”  _

Harry shook his head.  _ “Ashwinder,”  _ he said again.  _ “I can’t do that. Follow me now.”  _

The ashwinder uncoiled and slithered after him, albeit reluctantly. Harry crept as quickly as he dared out of the room, and then up the ladder, making sure the ashwinder was following him. 

As he touched the handle of the office door he turned around to check again. And jumped into panic mode. The ashwinder had already laid one egg. 

_ “Ashwinder! Stop!”  _ Harry hissed harshly. 

But the ashwinder didn’t respond. Harry fumbled for his wand, watching the floor underneath the ashwinder start to react to the heat. Already there was smoke. 

Harry held his wand up, sending a silent “Sorry!” to Newt; “Reducto!” he yelled, and the spell connected. 

The ashwinder exploded into- surprisingly- ash and hot sparks, which were already creating small flames. Three eggs fell to the floor in the ashwinder’s place, and they too began to burn. 

So much regret. Harry’s inner monologue became a litany of curses. 

“Glacius! Glacius! Glacius! Glacius!” Harry managed, freezing the eggs. Ignoring the flames for the moment, he dashed to scoop up the eggs and dropped them into the suitcase, locking it firmly and picking it up. 

Before he could get to the door, it opened to reveal Credence, half a room ahead of the others. “Take!” Harry instructed, passing the suitcase into Credence’s arms and slamming the door closed. “Glacius!” he cast again, freezing the door shut and stiff so that the fire was contained. 

With him. 

He turned around again just in time to hop away from the flames that licked at his shoes. 

“Aguamenti! Aguamenti!” he yelled. It doused the flames at his feet. He directed the stream other directions around the room. It wasn’t enough. 

A thought came to mind, a slip of memory, and he switched spells. “Aqua Eructo!” he exclaimed. This time a jet of water burst from his wand. It was more effective.

Harry coughed and spluttered, having inhaled a small amount of smoke that was taking up the upper half of the room. It was a good thing, Harry found himself thinking, that the office was practically bare. Otherwise he would be poisoned by toxins from the furniture reacting to the flames. 

There was a pounding at the door now, but Harry was determined to concentrate. “Aqua Eructo!” he yelled again. The pounding became louder, more forceful, as if there was someone trying to break the door down.

The flames spread ridiculously fast. The ice on the door was melting. Harry was going dizzy spinning around trying to keep up and keep himself safe, though for now he was managing to keep the fire at bay. But the temperature was taking its toll; the dizziness was not only from spinning, and sweat was soaking through his clothing. Harry felt sick. He wished for Tom’s comfort. No. He thought that everyone else was safe, and that was enough-

He turned the wrong way- a searing pain at his leg. He jerked away, falling. His arm seared too- landed on burning hot ash. 

“Aqua Eructo…” 

The door shattered. 

_ “Meteolojinx!” _ bellowed a familiar voice. What kind of spell-?

The flames trickled out around him, the unbearable heat replaced by a damp cold. Harry looked up. It was raining heavily. 

Hands pulled him up to stand. Harry couldn’t quite get himself to focus, though his glasses seemed fine. It took him longer than it should have to realise he wasn’t paying attention, and when he did, someone was speaking to him.

“-you say something? I’m just going to numb your arm for a second, don’t worry.” A second later the pain and any other feeling from his burned arm disappeared.

“Huh…” Harry managed to rasp out, his throat sore. Soft material and pale hands were wrapped around him, and only then did he look up to the familiar face; Tom. 

“Percy and clean up will be here shortly. I’m taking you to a mediwizard before Scamander and all can swarm us.”

“Why-?”  

“From my understanding, you gave Credence the suitcase and he went full obscurus. Attention was split, people hesitated, and evidently I’m going to have to set up a compulsory training course on how to multitask during stressful situations.” 

Guilt gnawed at Harry’s chest. He longed to see if Credence was alright and apologise, but Tom’s hands on him were as demanding as they were supporting, and within the next few seconds they were out of the Beast Division. 

“How… did… multitask…?” Harry wheezed out, stumbling but still upright thanks to Tom. 

“Save your voice, I can read your thoughts. And I didn’t multitask, I came straight for you.”

But wasn’t a loose obscurus a bigger problem than a fire?

Tom’s fingers tightened on him as he guided Harry into the lift. “It wasn’t just a fire, if you remember- as I recall you experienced it less than five minutes ago- it was a fire, in a locked room, with  _ you  _ inside. I wasn’t going to take any chances.” 

As it turned out, the mediwizard’s office was in the Atrium. Harry hadn’t even known there  _ was  _ any sort of healing facility in the Ministry as he’d fully trusted the Ministry to make bad decisions. He was thankful to be proven wrong, as his throat and arm weren’t getting any better and he’d rather not have any more permanent scars.

“The healer will see you in just a minute,” the assistant told them when they entered the office. If they were in the muggle world there would be more panic, Harry knew, but this was not the muggle world. 

“It’s because your injuries will, thankfully, heal with the application of a potion or two. You’re going to be fine,” Tom smiled at him, and some of Harry’s worries evaporated, though he noted that there was a fair amount of relief in Tom’s expression too.  

Tom seemed to debate something with himself before reaching into his pocket. “It seems rather insignificant now, but I was intending on giving you this after Seraphina’s conference was over. I… you don’t have to wear it, obviously, but… here.” 

Tom pulled out a necklace of gold, embedded with a glittering green S in stones on the front that reminded Harry of a snake. He held it for Harry to see, and then undid the clasp. “May I?” he asked.

Harry nodded, staring at the necklace in slight awe that someone like Tom Riddle would give this to him. Once again Harry found himself censoring his mind of fantasies or thoughts like those, as Tom would surely hear them. Instead of turning away to let Tom do the clasp, Tom pulled Harry’s face closer to his chest so he could see the back of Harry’s neck. When he was done, rather than moving away, Harry rested his head on Tom’s shoulder. The necklace was cool and comforting around Harry’s neck.

“Thank you,” Harry said, his voice rough, but that was the smoke’s fault. When the mediwizard called to see Harry, Tom went with him. 


	5. Day Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry's friends try to figure out the locket's deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late, I've been super ill (and I still am, but it's a bit less bad now). This chapter is shorter than the other ones but the last chapter is always the shortest in my fics so that's that. Hope you enjoy!

It was only a matter of days before Harry detected it, but even that was too long for an aspiring auror to take detecting magical signatures.

This magical signature in particular was coming from the locket. Though Harry had been trying to figure out what exactly was magical about it, so far he’d had no luck. The only thing Harry could decipher about it was that its small doors didn’t open, and that wasn’t much of a lead. Tom hadn’t even told Harry why he’d given it to him, and they hadn’t had lunch since (though this was only coincidental, as Tom was buried down with work).  

Even when Harry put his head together with Credence, and even later with Jacob Kowalski when he came to visit, none of them could puzzle it out.

Credence did have a little insight, though- “That's Slytherin's locket,” he'd said as soon as he saw it. Which made sense, considering the snakelike 'S’ on the front, but it still didn't solve the issue of what it was or why Tom gave it to him.

The arrival of Hermione, at least, provided a very welcome distraction for all of them (except Newt, who was regrettably running around after Graves in retaliation for the ashwinder incident and making Harry feel extremely guilty in the process).

The distraction began with a timid knock on the case, followed by Hermione practically falling down into the room. When she stood it was to three pairs of eyes on her, so it was with no small amount of awkwardness that she blushed, smiled, and gave a little wave to them all.

Harry of course immediately moved to hug her, and the hug brought a wave of nostalgia upon him. The introductions were all over the place, naturally, and somewhere along the way Hermione became Jacob’s new best friend, so it was some time later when Hermione asked, “Harry, what’s that on the table?”

And the speculation began all over again.

“Don’t they teach you this in auror training?” Hermione asked eventually, for what must have been the third time.

“I don’t think Riddle would have given Harry something dangerous,” Credence said doubtfully. He picked up the necklace and, at Harry’s nod, put it on. When the clasp closed, Credence went white as a sheet. “I retract my statement,” he said, fumbling with the clasp until Hermione undid it for him.

Harry took the locket from him with wary hands, but it felt the same to Harry as it had before. “It seems fine now. What happened?”

Credence frowned. “I don’t know… it just went cold and- bad. I just knew it was wrong, like it was offended that I’d put it on.”

Jacob poked at the locket. “Mr Riddle obviously gave it to you on purpose, Harry. He could have, uh, enchanted it so that only you can wear it.”

Harry nodded, but this felt like an unsatisfactory answer despite the fact that it made sense. “I think you’re right. But I also think there’s something else.” He placed the locket back onto the table, fiddling with the chain.

Credence nodded. “I think there’s more to it too. Maybe Mr Graves can help us figure it out, he said he was going to check in on us in the absence of Newt.”

Jacob and Harry were nodding, however Hermione fell off of her seat with a loud squeak. “Mr _Graves?_ He’s my boss! He can’t see that I’m down here-”

“He won’t care,” Credence said, completely unfazed. He pointed his wand at the lid of the suitcase, which opened just in time for them to see Graves reaching for it.

“Afternoon,” he called as he descended the ladder in a distinctly more dignified manner than Hermione had. “Not burned anything down yet? Enraged a spider?”

“Quintaped,” Credence corrected.

“Don’t worry, Mr Graves, we’ve learned from the incident with the ashwinder,” Harry said quickly, and then paused for effect. “We’ve agreed that from now on while we’re working, we won’t take anything seriously again.”

“Wait- hang on, that’s not exactly what I-”

“You know Mr Riddle rather well, wouldn’t you say?” Credence asked, keeping a straight face remarkably well for someone who’d stayed behind with Harry a few nights prior debating which version of that line they should speak to Graves to get him the most flustered.

Harry hid his smile underneath his hand.

Graves looked between them both, conflicted but fighting a losing battle. Eventually he gave in, leaned against the table and nodded.“I’ll deal with that later… but to answer your question, yes. Why? Are you planning a prank on him or something? Because if you are, I am 100% in on it.”

“Noted for the future,” Credence said. “But no, actually I was wondering if you think he would ever gift one of us, particularly Harry… something… dangerous?”

Graves actually laughed. “To Harry? I think if we named a fly Harry Potter and asked him to swat it, he’d be reluctant. No, I don’t think so… while ‘dangerous’ and ‘Tom Riddle’ go together like peaches and cream, he wouldn’t do that.”

Harry dragged the necklace off the table and held it out, swinging like a pendulum, for Graves to see. “Then what’s this?”

Graves eyes widened, his mouth falling open slightly in his surprise. Everyone leaned in subconsciously, wanting to know why Graves had reacted in this way, and then a grin spread over Graves’ face.

“You really don’t know what that is?”

“No!” Harry said, managing to keep most of his frustration out of his voice. “I’ve been trying to figure it out for days!”

Graves started to laugh again, but it felt less mocking and more genuinely happy this time. Harry, on the other hand, could not have been less amused.

“Oh Tom,” Graves grinned. “Tom, Tom, Tom. He’s supposed to be the most logical and cynical of all of us, except when it comes to common sense, apparently…”

Harry shared an exasperated glance with Hermione, who was by now bouncing in her seat waiting for Graves to tell them exactly what the locket was.

“You know, Credence, I almost got you one of these but I decided not to in the end because you weren’t born into wizarding society let alone pureblood society, so its meaning would have been lost on you… and lost of the rest of you too, now.” Graves took the locket gently from Harry’s hand, scrutinising it. “Yes, it’s very well done. A lot of effort was put into this- I would never have thought _Tom_ would be such a romantic, but- okay, let me explain. It’s something of a pureblood tradition for people you like in a certain way to gift them a significant object enchanted as an offer of courting.”

It was Jacob’s turn to laugh, now. “Courting? What are we, Victorians?” Hermione coughed to hide her own laughter, and Harry followed Credence’s example of schooling his face into one of perfect innocence.

Graves dutifully ignored them all.

“ _This_ object is very significant; as I understand, it’s been passed down in Tom’s family for hundreds of years. I’ve never known Tom to do anything without 110% effort put into it, and this doesn’t seem to be any different. The enchantments around it are designed so that only the intended can comfortably own, use, or in this case wear it. Most importantly, it alerts Tom if the offer of courting is accepted… when did he give this to you?”

“Ashwinder day,” Harry said.

Graves nodded, highly amused once again. “That explains a lot. You can’t exactly accept his offer if you don’t know you’re being offered anything, but if he thought you knew what he’d given you that wouldn’t cross his mind! Now you know, of course, everything can be sorted out… assuming that you _want_ to accept the offer, of course…”

Everybody was staring at Harry now, and this was not a development he particularly liked.

“Don’t pull a Ginny again, Harry,” Hermione joked lightly, maybe in an attempt to alleviate the sudden tension. Graves passed him the locket back.

Did he want to date Tom? Absolutely. Did he want Tom to ‘court’ him? Well, they’d definitely be having a conversation about the definitions of of ‘courting’ and the degree of pureblood traditions involved in their relationship- none, preferably, but-

The locket hummed audibly, startling everyone except Graves, who smiled.

“Good choice. I’m happy for you. Of course, if you hurt him, bad things will happen-” Credence nudged Graves hard in the side, and Graves changed tactics, sounding slightly winded. “Without Newt here, things are a little slow, erm, so it wouldn’t hurt... to give you the day off. Just once.”

Graves looked at Credence out of the corner of his eye; Credence tilted his head.

Harry wasted little time leaving the suitcase, stopping only to gesture that Hermione follow him out, which she hastily did.

And she hastily left as soon as they found Tom in the DMLE.

He started to open the door to his office, but froze and turned to look Harry in the eye. His expression was unreadable from a distance, but Harry made a beeline for him and as he got closer Tom’ gaze lowered to the locket around Harry’s neck.

 _I’ve been waiting for you,_ whispered Tom’s voice in Harry’s head.

 _I have a bone to pick with you,_ Harry thought, and the slight frown on Tom’s face told Harry he’d heard. _Pureblood traditions, Tom? For real?_

_You said you were versed in wizarding traditions…_

“I said I went to Hogwarts, and I thought you were devaluing me!” Harry said, close enough now to reach out and touch Tom. He didn’t.

Tom did reach out and touch him, though, opening the door and pulling Harry inside.

“I can show you just how much I value you, if you’d like,” Tom said, crowding Harry against the door and grinning. Harry laughed.

It hit him then how much things had changed since he’d arrived here. How ridiculous everything was now, and how good. He was on his way to a happy future, and he was on his way to one with Tom.

“Your thoughts are very lovely, Harry, but do shut up.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, and pulled Tom down by his tie for the first kiss of many.

He had the day off, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to comment, and I'll see you when I see you! :p


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